UWG Students Warm the Hearts of Struggling Pet Owners

Friday, November 16, 2012

No one should ever have to choose between feeding their pets or feeding themselves. UWG’s Pi Sigma Alpha, a political science society, is conducting a pet food drive Nov. 12 - 30 to help the furry friends whose owners are short on funds but not on love. Pet food donations can be made in the Pafford Building, room 140.

“It breaks my heart sometimes on Saturdays to talk to the clients when I am distributing food”, said Dr. Teresa Leslie, UWG history professor and president of the Carroll County Humane Society (CCHS).

With a growing need for pet food, The Empty Pet Bowls (EPB) program serves as the society’s soup kitchen for animals. The food is distributed a month at a time and pet owners can obtain a month’s supply of food each time they make a request.

“There's the dear elderly lady who lives on her social security checks who has a little schnauzer who is her whole life,” said Leslie. “She has confided that before we began EPB, she would buy food for her dog before she bought food for herself and sometimes skipped meals to make sure her dog didn't have to go hungry.”

Some people, out of work or under-employed, are forced to go to what some would consider extreme measures to make sure their animals have food, she noted.

“A military veteran who has been unemployed for over a year walks over a mile, crossing a busy highway, to reach the shelter to pick up food for his two pit bull mixes, then walks back with heavy bags of dog food on his shoulders,” she recalled.

“EPB helps not only the animals we feed, but their human family members who sacrifice and struggle to provide for them,” Leslie said. “I want to thank this wonderful organization for this pet food drive on our behalf. I am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of the UWG community.”

Learn more about the Empty Pet Bowls program by contacting Dr. Leslie at tleslie@westga.edu. Visitors to the UWG campus to make pet food donations should contact Parking Services in advance to register their vehicles at (678) 839-6629 or parking@westga.edu. A few guest parking spots are available in the lot by the Pafford Building.